


Doing your best

by plikki



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Domestic Fluff, F/M, being a parent is hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:27:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27790747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/plikki/pseuds/plikki
Summary: Adrien comes home to Marinette crying with a glass of orange juice because their children attempted to eat something that shouldn't be eaten and stuffed grape jelly into the plug sockets.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 28
Kudos: 118
Collections: Miraculous Fanworks Anniversary 2020





	Doing your best

**Author's Note:**

  * For [jamari](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamari/gifts).



> The [ Miraculous Fanworks Discord](https://discord.gg/mlfanworks) has just turned one!   
> Happy anniversary, Jamari! I had a lot of fun with your prompt but I couldn't fit in Vaseline, I hope you forgive me! 💗  
> This goes out to all mums doing their best and always feeling it's not enough! You are awesome, never forget it (especially on bad days)!

When Adrien got home the apartment was quiet. It was really late and he’d missed the children’s bedtime. The lights were on only in the kitchen and he peeked in there. What he saw made his heart ache and he cursed the overrunning meeting again. 

Marinette was sitting at the dining table, a lone glass of orange juice in front of her. She was looking at it but her eyes were glazed over and unseeing, while tears quietly fell down her cheeks. 

Adrien turned around, shrugged his coat off and marched into the bathroom to wash his hands before he returned to her. He approached her slowly so as not to startle her and kneeled next to her, taking her hands in his.

“M’lady,” he said softly and her eyes drifted to his. A small hiccup rose in her throat as even more tears streamed down her face. “Shh,” he rushed to say, gathering her in his arms as she started to sob. As he rubbed small circles on her back, he took in the room behind her. The dirty dishes in the sink, the toys strewn on the floor, the washing machine full of dirty clothes. His hunch had been right, it had been a rough day. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry I was so late,” he mumbled in her hair as regret washed over him. She’d needed him and he hadn’t been there for her. “Tell me how bad it was,” he added when she seemed to calm down. She looked up at him with tired eyes.

“Where do I start?” She sighed. “It was everything and nothing. Emma lost her favourite brushes and had a tantrum, while I was busy with feeding Hugo. And the little devil was busy getting apple sauce everywhere but his mouth, including my hair. Then, the kwamis offered to help me while I cooked lunch and it was all quiet for a while and I made the mistake of taking it as a good thing. Only to find them stuffing grape jelly in the sockets. Thank God we have safety guards!” she groaned. “And I guess I should be thankful it wasn’t Plagg nasty cheese that they stuffed there after all or it would have been an even bigger nightmare to clean,” she shuddered at the thought and he joined in.

“Is there more?” he asked, hoping against hope that this had been enough for a day.

“Of course. Then in my rush to change Hugo’s nappy, I stepped on Emma’s harmonica. You know how she always leaves it somewhere. It fell to pieces,” she whispered and he could see terror and excitement battling in her eyes. That harmonica had been the bane of their existence ever since Marinette’s grandma had brought it for their daughter. It was wooden and easily broken, but they’d managed to repair it a few times. Now it seemed like it was beyond salvation. 

“I had to pretend I was sorry and comfort Emma.” He knew he’d need to do the same. “She by the way almost ate a crayon,” Marinette added, but at this point this was no news. “Meanwhile, I had to deal with Hugo’s nappy. You can guess what happened.” There were a number of possibilities, from bad to catastrophic. “He peed on me!” Marinette exclaimed and Adrien blanched. He’d been on the receiving end of this a few times and knew it wasn’t pleasant. “I had to change my clothes and mop up the excess from the floor, like is he a less than a year old boy or a fire hydrant?? Where does he keep it all?” A hysterical giggle spilled from her mouth and Adrien felt his lips twitching. He’d asked himself the same question more than once. 

“Then Emma was not cooperating and his afternoon nap was ruined and both were cranky and trying to outdo each other in the crying department,” she finished with a sigh. “Bath time couldn’t come fast enough.”

“And I wasn’t here for it,” he added, guilt choking him. “I’m so sorry you had to deal with all this on your own, Marinette.” He held her tight, wishing he could make it up to her.

“It’s ok, it wasn’t your fault. You know that on a normal day I wouldn’t mind. It was just crazy today,” she huffed. It was already too late for her to pretend it hadn’t been bad, but it was clear she wanted to. Because he knew how wretched she felt whenever she complained from the children.

He wondered if he’d ever stop finding new things to admire the woman in his arms. He’d fought villains with her for years, seen her taking down formidable opponents, only for her to be brought down by a stubborn five-year old and a curious crawling infant. She was doing great, looking after them mostly on her own, while also trying to do some design work while they were sleeping, but she still thought she wasn’t good enough.

Adrien tried to help as much as he could. The weekends were off limits and all his co-workers knew it, but sometimes things didn’t go according to plan and he couldn’t be home at the usual hour. He knew she needed him, it was only normal. He tried to change nappies and fold clean clothes, feed and bathe at least one of the children, giving her some breathing space. One had been a challenge but two were a whole other level.

They loved the children to bits, but they could test even the most patient of souls sometimes. Especially when running on a few hours of sleep, which was the norm with a teething Hugo. However, Marinette always felt guilty and tried not to complain, even to him. They’d wanted two children, they were blessed with them, so she felt like a bad mother whenever she felt anything less than happy. He really wished she could be less hard on herself. 

“You are my hero,” he told her as he patted the matted hair at the back of her head and kissed her tear-stained cheeks. “You are doing a great job. You are the best mum in the whole world and the children are so lucky to have you!” This earned him a small smile.

“I love you,” he added before kissing her lips.

“I love you too,” she whispered. “Thank you for listening.”

“Anytime. And I’ll do a lot more than that over the next two days. You’ll have a walk on your own tomorrow, you can leave the children with me. I’m not taking no for an answer. You know I want to spend time with them and I can’t throughout the week and also I’d like to see if they have any new tricks for their daddy,” he added with a grin. She shook her head with a soft smile.

“You want me to run you a bath?” He asked when she stood up, just as she asked “Are you hungry?”

“We had some pizza at the meeting,” he shrugged. “I can come join you,” he winked at her. Mostly, he was worried that she could fall asleep if she was alone in there, but a little teasing couldn’t hurt. 

“I’ll be waiting for you,” she said over her shoulder as she headed to their bedroom. Before he joined her, he peeked into Emma’s room and smiled at his softly snoring daughter. Then he went into their bedroom and tucked in Hugo in his cot, smiling at the baby’s whimper. 

There were hard days, but it was all worth it, he thought. Especially since he had the chance to share all this with the love of his life. 


End file.
